In Google’s vision of the future, people will be able to translate documents instantly into the world’s main languages, with machine logic, not expert linguists, leading the way.

Google’s approach, called statistical(統(tǒng)計(jì)的) machine translation, differs from past efforts in which it does without language experts who program grammatical rules and dictionaries into computers. Instead, they feed documents humans have already translated into two languages and then rely on computers to decide patterns for future translations.

While the quality is not perfect, it is an improvement on previous efforts at machine translation, said Franz Och, 35, a German who heads Google’s translation effort at its Mountain View headquarters south of San Francisco. “Some people who have been in machine translations for a long time see our Arabic-English output, and then they say, that’s amazing, that’s a breakthrough.” Said Och. “And then other people who have never seen what machine translation was read through the sentence and they say, the first mistake here in Line Five－it doesn’t seem to work because there is a mistake there.”

But for some tasks, a mostly correct translation may be good enough. Speaking over lunch this week in a Google cafeteria famed for offering free, healthy food, Och showed a translation of an Arabic Web news site into easily digestible English.

Two Google workers speaking Russian at a nearby table said, however, that a translation of a news site from English into their native tongue was understandable but a bit awkward. Och, who speaks German, English and some Italian, feeds hundreds of millions of words from parallel texts such as Arabic and English into the computer, using United Nations and European Union documents as key sources.

Languages without considerable translated texts, such as some African languages, face greater obstacles. “The more data we feed into the system, the better it gets.” said Och, who moved to the United States from Germany in 2002.

The program applies statistical analysis, an approach he hopes will avoid diplomatic embarrassing mistakes in diplomatic situations, such as when Russian leader Putin’s translator annoyed then German Chancellor(總理) Gerhard Schroeder by calling him the German “Fuhrer (“l(fā)eader” in English),” which is forbidden in that context because of its association with Adolf Hitler.

“I would hope that the language model would say, well, Schroeder is…very rare but Bundeskanzler Gerhard Schroeder is probably 100 times more frequent than Fuhrer and then it would make the right decision.” Och said.

1．What is the best title of this passage?

       A．Google Seeks World of Instant Translations.

       B．Google Starts a Revolution of Machine Translations.

       C．A Breakthrough Makes Google World Brighter.

       D．Surf Google and Try the New Computer System.

2．In what way is “Google’s machine translation” different from previous ones?

       A．Linguists guide the computer translation on Google.

       B．International official papers are programmed as its major sources.

       C．Rules and dictionaries are fed into computers to support it.

       D．Google daily updates the program of this computer translation.

3．We can learn from the passage that users ___________.

       A．think highly of Google’s new approach

       B．criticize it for its broken translation

       C．hope Google can perfect it before launching

       D．hold different opinions towards Google’s new approach

4．Why are there more troubles in translations relating to African languages?

       A．Most of the translated materials are not properly translated.

       B．Experts managing the program know poorly of African languages.

       C．It’s hard to find enough materials of African translation works.

       D．The UN and EU fail to provide translated African documents.

5．Statistical analysis in this passage is conducted by ___________.

       A．counting how frequently a word is used in the language

       B．hiring people who speak different languages

       C．using the computer with its own grammatical rules

       D．reminding users of the likely embarrassing mistakes

練習(xí)冊(cè)系列答案
相關(guān)習(xí)題

科目：高中英語 來源：安徽省靈璧一中2010屆高三下學(xué)期第三次模擬考試英語試卷 題型：閱讀理解


Watch out, Yahoo. There is a search engine out there with super speed and accuracy. It’s very cool.
Google is the Web’s largest search engine. In just two years it has gained a reputation for surprising speed and accuracy, delivering what you are looking for in a second. The site now does this 40 million times a day --- a number achieved without spending a penny on a TV or newspaper ad.
Google doesn’t need them. In the past six months alone, the site has won a Webby (the online version of the Oscar) for technical excellence, set a new record for search engines by indexing a billion Web pages.
Yahoo still has ten times the audience, but Google consistently ranks first in customer satisfaction: 97% of users find what they are looking for most or all of the time. “You see people smile when they use it, like they’ve found something no one else knows about,” says Danny Sullivan, editor of an online newsletter.
No one is smiling more than Larry Page, 27, and Sergey Brin, 26, who seem certain to become billionaires when the company goes public, probably sometime in 2004. they make a great comedy duo(成對(duì)的表演者)。When they first met as Ph. D. students, the pair say, they found each other horrible – “I still find him horrible,” adds Brin – but driven together by a computer-science project aimed at coming up with better ways of searching the Web.
The idea behind the Google is that traditional search engines are stupid. They think relevance (關(guān)聯(lián)) is based on repetition; if you type in a request for Tiger Woods, say, you’ll get websites listed according to how many times those words appear. Not only is this no guarantee of quality, but it’s also open to abuse. If you own a Tiger fan site and want to lead more people to it, simply type his name thousands of times in the site’s source code(編碼).
1What does the underlined word “them” in the third paragraph refer to?
A. 40 million times              B. Speed and accuracy. 
C. TV and newspaper ads.        D. Web pages
2. Which of the following win greater customer satisfaction?
A. Yahoo        B. Tiger Woods      C. Larry Page     D. Google
3. It can be inferred that Page and Brin ______________.
A. hold very important positions in Google
B. are two ordinary computer programmers of Google.
C. used to hate each other very much
D. hold quite different opinions of computer-science
4. We can learn from the last paragraph that ___________.
A. Google is open to abuse
B. Google remains a traditional search engine
C. Google thinks relevance is based on repetition
D Google is better than traditional search engines

查看答案和解析>>

科目：高中英語 來源：2010屆廣東省廣州市增城區(qū)高三調(diào)研綜合測(cè)試英語試題 題型：閱讀理解

       Whether you're heading into the wild or down the road, it's hard to find a better electronic sidekick than a GPS. (Well, you know, other than a cell phone.)
Because a GPS has to receive a signal from space, physical impediments(遮擋) like skyscrapers, cliff faces, and even trees can stump(阻斷) it. Reception is less of an issue with the ultrasensitive(超靈敏) chipsets in newer models, but if the walls are closing in on you, take a tip from a time when navigation systems weren't the streamlined panels they are today: Hooking up an antenna(天線) will make use of even the most tenuous celestial connection. There's a port on the back of most GPS devices for jacking in.
You'll also want to remember that a GPS is not a compass: It runs on software. Like your PC, it needs to communicate with the mother ship periodically. Vendors(供應(yīng)商) refresh firmware and maps on a regular basis, sometimes even daily. These updates deliver new bits of data that significantly affect your gadget's accuracy. But if you live in the boonies(郊區(qū)) on a road named after your sister-wife, don't expect NavTeq to come a-knocking with its survey equipment. Fortunately, most companies make it easy to update your own maps. Usually it's as simple as plugging into your home computer, dropping a couple of pins in Google Maps, and clicking Save.
If you own a new Tom Tom, it's even easier. You can edit maps on the unit itself, though you might not have to: Some of the company's navigation updates themselves. Tom Tom's IQ Routes software takes data from every person who uses the company' gadgets and readjusts its assumptions about which roads you should use and how long a given route will take. It will even change its own maps.
See, it's not that hard: Your GPS may use NASA technology, but getting the most out of it isn't rocket science.
46. The writer thinks the useful electronic partner is __  
____besides a cell phone when driving outdoors.
A. a GPS            B. Tom Tom's IQ Routes              C. a PC       D. NASA
47. Which statement is NOT true about a GPS according to the passage?
A. It receives a signal from space.
B. It is not a compass.
C. It needs to refresh its information.
D. It has no port to connect other equipment.
48. You may learn from the passage that Tom Tom (Para 4) is _______.
A. a GPS receiver
B. a device that can be used to edit maps
C. a device that can be used to update software
D. a person who readjusts GPS assumptions
49. The main idea of the last paragraph is _______.
A. that we should make the most of GPS in rocket science
B. that getting the most out of GPS is too difficult
C. getting the most out of GPS is very easy
D. GPS owns NASA technology
50. Which is not mentioned about a GPS according to the passage?
A. Its usage.          B. Its price and shape.   C. Its technology.     D. Its benefit.

查看答案和解析>>

科目：高中英語 來源：安徽省2010屆高三下學(xué)期第三次模擬考試英語試卷 題型：閱讀理解

Watch out, Yahoo. There is a search engine out there with super speed and accuracy. It’s very cool.

Google is the Web’s largest search engine. In just two years it has gained a reputation for surprising speed and accuracy, delivering what you are looking for in a second. The site now does this 40 million times a day --- a number achieved without spending a penny on a TV or newspaper ad.

Google doesn’t need them. In the past six months alone, the site has won a Webby (the online version of the Oscar) for technical excellence, set a new record for search engines by indexing a billion Web pages.

Yahoo still has ten times the audience, but Google consistently ranks first in customer satisfaction: 97% of users find what they are looking for most or all of the time. “You see people smile when they use it, like they’ve found something no one else knows about,” says Danny Sullivan, editor of an online newsletter.

No one is smiling more than Larry Page, 27, and Sergey Brin, 26, who seem certain to become billionaires when the company goes public, probably sometime in 2004. they make a great comedy duo(成對(duì)的表演者)。When they first met as Ph. D. students, the pair say, they found each other horrible – “I still find him horrible,” adds Brin – but driven together by a computer-science project aimed at coming up with better ways of searching the Web.

The idea behind the Google is that traditional search engines are stupid. They think relevance (關(guān)聯(lián)) is based on repetition; if you type in a request for Tiger Woods, say, you’ll get websites listed according to how many times those words appear. Not only is this no guarantee of quality, but it’s also open to abuse. If you own a Tiger fan site and want to lead more people to it, simply type his name thousands of times in the site’s source code(編碼).

1What does the underlined word “them” in the third paragraph refer to?

A. 40 million times              B. Speed and accuracy. 

C. TV and newspaper ads.        D. Web pages

2. Which of the following win greater customer satisfaction?

A. Yahoo        B. Tiger Woods      C. Larry Page     D. Google

3. It can be inferred that Page and Brin ______________.

A. hold very important positions in Google

B. are two ordinary computer programmers of Google.

C. used to hate each other very much

D. hold quite different opinions of computer-science

4. We can learn from the last paragraph that ___________.

A. Google is open to abuse

B. Google remains a traditional search engine

C. Google thinks relevance is based on repetition

D Google is better than traditional search engines

 

查看答案和解析>>

科目：高中英語 來源： 題型：閱讀理解

       Whether you're heading into the wild or down the road, it's hard to find a better electronic sidekick than a GPS. (Well, you know, other than a cell phone.)

       Because a GPS has to receive a signal from space, physical impediments(遮擋) like skyscrapers, cliff faces, and even trees can stump(阻斷) it. Reception is less of an issue with the ultrasensitive(超靈敏) chipsets in newer models, but if the walls are closing in on you, take a tip from a time when navigation systems weren't the streamlined panels they are today: Hooking up an antenna(天線) will make use of even the most tenuous celestial connection. There's a port on the back of most GPS devices for jacking in.

       You'll also want to remember that a GPS is not a compass: It runs on software. Like your PC, it needs to communicate with the mother ship periodically. Vendors(供應(yīng)商) refresh firmware and maps on a regular basis, sometimes even daily. These updates deliver new bits of data that significantly affect your gadget's accuracy. But if you live in the boonies(郊區(qū)) on a road named after your sister-wife, don't expect NavTeq to come a-knocking with its survey equipment. Fortunately, most companies make it easy to update your own maps. Usually it's as simple as plugging into your home computer, dropping a couple of pins in Google Maps, and clicking Save.

       If you own a new Tom Tom, it's even easier. You can edit maps on the unit itself, though you might not have to: Some of the company's navigation updates themselves. Tom Tom's IQ Routes software takes data from every person who uses the company' gadgets and readjusts its assumptions about which roads you should use and how long a given route will take. It will even change its own maps.

       See, it's not that hard: Your GPS may use NASA technology, but getting the most out of it isn't rocket science.

46. The writer thinks the useful electronic partner is ______besides a cell phone when driving outdoors.

       A. a GPS             B. Tom Tom's IQ Routes              C. a PC        D. NASA

47. Which statement is NOT true about a GPS according to the passage?

       A. It receives a signal from space.

       B. It is not a compass.

       C. It needs to refresh its information.

       D. It has no port to connect other equipment.

48. You may learn from the passage that Tom Tom (Para 4) is _______.

       A. a GPS receiver

       B. a device that can be used to edit maps

       C. a device that can be used to update software

       D. a person who readjusts GPS assumptions

49. The main idea of the last paragraph is _______.

       A. that we should make the most of GPS in rocket science

       B. that getting the most out of GPS is too difficult

       C. getting the most out of GPS is very easy

       D. GPS owns NASA technology

50. Which is not mentioned about a GPS according to the passage?

       A. Its usage.          B. Its price and shape.   C. Its technology.      D. Its benefit.

查看答案和解析>>

科目：高中英語 來源： 題型：閱讀理解

    Watch out, Yahoo. There is a search engine out there with super speed and accuracy. It’s very cool.

    Google is the Web’s largest search engine. In just two years it has gained a reputation for surprising speed and accuracy, delivering what you are looking for in a second. The site now does this 40 million times a day --- a number achieved without spending a penny on a TV or newspaper ad.

    Google doesn’t need them. In the past six months alone, the site has won a Webby (the online version of the Oscar) for technical excellence, set a new record for search engines by indexing a billion Web pages.

    Yahoo still has ten times the audience, but Google consistently ranks first in customer satisfaction: 97% of users find what they are looking for most or all of the time. “You see people smile when they use it, like they’ve found something no one else knows about,” says Danny Sullivan, editor of an online newsletter.

    No one is smiling more than Larry Page, 27, and Sergey Brin, 26, who seem certain to become billionaires when the company goes public, probably sometime in 2004. they make a great comedy duo(成對(duì)的表演者)。When they first met as Ph. D. students, the pair say, they found each other horrible – “I still find him horrible,” adds Brin – but driven together by a computer-science project aimed at coming up with better ways of searching the Web.

   The idea behind the Google is that traditional search engines are stupid. They think relevance (關(guān)聯(lián)) is based on repetition; if you type in a request for Tiger Woods, say, you’ll get websites listed according to how many times those words appear. Not only is this no guarantee of quality, but it’s also open to abuse. If you own a Tiger fan site and want to lead more people to it, simply type his name thousands of times in the site’s source code(編碼).

1What does the underlined word “them” in the third paragraph refer to?

A. 40 million times              B. Speed and accuracy. 

C. TV and newspaper ads.         D. Web pages

2. Which of the following win greater customer satisfaction?

   A. Yahoo        B. Tiger Woods      C. Larry Page     D. Google

3. It can be inferred that Page and Brin ______________.

   A. hold very important positions in Google

   B. are two ordinary computer programmers of Google.

   C. used to hate each other very much

   D. hold quite different opinions of computer-science

4. We can learn from the last paragraph that ___________.

   A. Google is open to abuse

   B. Google remains a traditional search engine

   C. Google thinks relevance is based on repetition

   D Google is better than traditional search engines

查看答案和解析>>

同步練習(xí)冊(cè)答案